Jon Chambers during the Red Bull X-Alps 2013. Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
Jon Chambers is an expert mountain pilot and has competed in the Red Bull X-Alps twice.
In issue 152 (March / April 2014) of Cross Country Magazine he draws on that extensive experience to explain how to safely navigate mountain passes when flying cross country.
Taking two examples from the 2013 Red Bull X-Alps he shows how to get it right – and also illustrates how to get it wrong.
It is day eight of the 2013 X-Alps and I am on a mountainside just to the south of Pas de la Coche in the Belledonne. Clement and Antoine launched above here earlier this morning, around 10.30am. Despite pushing very hard on foot since 5am I am too late to catch them, but that isn’t going to stop me trying.
As I move forwards my lightweight wing comes up above my head, almost effortlessly. Everything is perfect. In any case I have the luxury of one of my supporters, Tom Payne, next to me confirming it is all fine. I accelerate hard across the shallow slope; everything still feels good. As I reach the point of no return, the point at which my feet are literally leaving contact with the ground, I realise it is all wrong.
The glider takes a huge collapse, at the same time as I more or less fall off the side of the mountain. I remember ‘helicopter’ being the next thought that ran through my mind, because at that split-second this is the only way my brain could think this would end, with me being evacuated to hospital in a helicopter as I spin into the rocks.
But, I’m flying, albeit in a complete mess, not even in my harness properly as my instruments had come loose in the run and tangled up in my pod. But that is the least of my problems, as I focus back on the task in hand.
Avoiding the rocks is the first and sorting out the collapse comes a close second. I get the wing back in a normal flying configuration, but I’m still hanging by the leg straps in my harness and my vario is somewhere under me so I can’t see or hear it. I don’t need to – I know I am falling out of the sky fast, aiming now for the valley and, I hope, safety. Then I take another massive frontal collapse…
Jon analyses this incident to explain what was happening in the air as it flowed over the mountain pass he was on, and explains more about how to approach crossing difficult mountain passes in the Alps and other mountain ranges. It makes for essential reading for anyone who wants to fly further and better in the mountains.
Jon Chambers is author of Hanging in There, a gripping account of the Red Bull X-Alps.
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